


The Great Mystery of the Love Declaration Graffiti

by NotLostAnymore



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - High School, Clueless Geoff, Crushes, Fluff, Jock Adam, Jock Burnie, M/M, Nerd Michael, Nerd Ryan, Outcast Geoff, Prompt Fic, Transfer Student Gavin, everyone is bi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-23
Updated: 2016-07-23
Packaged: 2018-07-26 08:07:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7566634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotLostAnymore/pseuds/NotLostAnymore
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Somebody has a crush on Geoff, he's just not sure who. Finding out turns out to be a lot more difficult than he expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Great Mystery of the Love Declaration Graffiti

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the prompt “Someone wrote I’m cute in the bathroom stall and your notes match the handwriting” AU
> 
> Very loose use of the 5+1 fanfic trope which I love so much and yet have somehow never actually used.

“Geoff Ramsey is cute.”

Geoff had stared at the small note scribbled on the side of the bathroom stall more times than he could possibly count. It had appeared two weeks ago and perplexed him ever since because it meant that there was a boy in this wretched high school that thought he was _cute_. Hell, even the idea of being called cute seemed absurd to Geoff. He was scruffy, his hair always a mess and his stubble growing out in patches. His clothes never fit properly, hanging baggily off his skinny frame and his painted black nails never remained untouched for more than a day at a time. Truth be told he wasn’t sure how anybody could ever consider him cute but there was someone out there in the halls who did and by god did it make his heart beat a little faster.

It wasn’t as if Geoff actually cared about high school. He was a Senior with no plans for college and no real memories to treasure. Sure, there was his brief relationship with Griffon but that had hardly lasted more than three months before they agreed that they were probably better friends. Besides, her parents had moved out of town at the end of their Junior year and now she was off on some ranch somewhere, learning to work with nature or some shit. Geoff wasn’t a good enough friend to check up on her as often as he probably should but he’d already acknowledged that he was a pretty crappy friend.

Even though he knew he had things like homework and midterms that were probably more important, Geoff couldn’t help but spend most of his in-school time wondering exactly who had scribbled that message. He wasn’t sure why he was quite so fixated on it, he just couldn’t shake it from his mind and it was beginning to drive him crazy.

His first thought had of course been Michael, the friendly but kinda nerdy Junior who he had once stood up to a bully for. He’d ended up with a black eye for his effort but for months after that Michael had looked at him as if he was the second coming of Jesus. Or would it be third? There was that whole business with the rolling stone and honestly Geoff had never paid enough attention in church as a kid to know. Either way it made sense that maybe Michael’s appreciation had snowballed into something more and yeah, maybe Geoff didn’t mind that. His ego had certainly enjoyed the way Michael practically worshiped the ground he stood on, if only because the boy was the only one who had ever acted that way towards him. To most of his classmates he was a total burnout and to his parents he was a comedic disappointment. He didn’t really spend much time thinking about it though because why should he worry about not following the cookie-cutter life that all other kids his age were? He’d never had an issue being a free spirit. Like a more handsome James Dean, obviously.

Geoff tried to imagine what he’d do if it really was Michael who’d left that little confession behind in the bathroom stall. He was certainly a good looking kid and he was nice but Geoff was also well aware of how easy it was to influence him and maybe that wouldn’t be the best thing for a relationship, especially when he had such terrible habits already. The younger boy had once caught Geoff smoking behind the school sheds (don’t knock the classic spots, they still worked) and had asked for a try which had involved a very awkward conversation where a teenage chain-smoker had to explain to the other that smoking was something he should avoid starting at all costs. Michael had looked a little put-out and they hadn’t really spoken quite as much afterwards. He felt a little guilty about that but he’d saved the kid a nasty habit and a serious hit to his wallet.

Would he want to actually date Michael though? Well… no, not really. He was more like an annoying younger brother, following him around and doing his best to impress him. That wasn’t exactly a great base for a relationship and besides, Geoff was pretty sure Michael was too busy tripping over himself when he spoke to that cute red-headed girl to notice him as anything more than a cool older student. Yep, Geoff definitely qualified as cool no matter what any of his classmates said.

Besides, all that consideration was for nothing when he spotted Michael doing his homework in the school cafeteria and spared a glance over his shoulder. The messy scrawl he had glimpsed was certainly not the neat cursive the message was written in. Feeling somewhat relieved, Geoff hurried away from his young friend and found himself back in the bathroom stall to inspect it further. There were no further hints or additions and staring at it for the next five minutes certainly didn’t help either.

“Where did you disappear off to?” Ryan grunted as Geoff finally threw himself down at their usual picnic table just outside the cafeteria. Out of everybody in his entire year group, Ryan was probably the only person Geoff would willingly consider a friend. Sure, he had acquaintances but they were more bonded by the horrors of surviving school rather than any actual pleasure in the other’s company. Ryan was easy to get along with, if a little weird considering he spent half of his time fussing with his tablet and whining about how poorly coded the school website was. Before Ryan he’d had no idea their school even _had_ a website.

“Had to take a dump,” Geoff replied crudely, earning a roll of his friend’s eyes in response. Honestly it was a miracle Ryan had enough patience to put up with him because Geoff knew that he didn’t exactly make it easy on him. He was a real jackass when he wanted to be which was pretty much always. At least there was somebody that found it endearing - or at least bearable. Then, because apparently Geoff’s mind decided this was a perfect time to go into overdrive, he paused to wonder exactly _why_ Ryan put up with so much of his crap as often as he did. Was it possible that Ryan had left the message? Was he secretly pining for him and had been too afraid to say something because he thought Geoff would mock him for it? It wasn't as if he had a track record for being considerate of other people's feelings, after all.

Thinking about it, Ryan would probably be a great boyfriend. He was handsome and puberty had been a lot kinder to him than it had to Geoff, giving him height _and_ a good metabolism. All Ryan had to do was go for a short jog before school every morning (which sounded horrifying in Geoff’s honest opinion) and he was fit as a fiddle. Seriously, his arms were surprisingly toned even if they were hidden under ugly sweaters more often than not and yeah, maybe the thought of Ryan pinning him down with those arms excited Geoff a little. He was a red-blooded teenage boy, of course he was going to end up thinking like that! It didn’t necessarily mean anything, just that he’d recognized that his friend was strong and handsome and probably a very good lover. Why did that have to be a weird thing to think about?

It was only when the lunch bell rang that Geoff was pulled out of his confusing thoughts about his best friend and reminded that he already knew what Ryan’s handwriting looked like. It was incredibly neat for sure but it didn’t match up. Geoff’s mystery boy wasn’t Ryan and once again he felt a little reassured by that. He didn’t need to complicate the only _real_ friendship he’d actually made.

Not for the first time, Geoff’s entire evening was spent with half of his mind considering the message. Had it been left in the hope that he would see it? Did the person expect him to recognize their handwriting? No, that couldn’t be right. They had to know that Geoff was a fucking idiot and an unobservant idiot at that, it wasn’t as if he bothered hiding it.

His dream that night was hardly helpful either.

Burnie Burns was about as far from Geoff’s social circle as you could possibly get. He was a linebacker or something on the school’s football team (Geoff had never bothered paying enough attention to know anything about the sport) and as such Burnie was more than a few ranks above him in the archaic hierarchy their school seemed to run by. While Geoff was awkward and sarcastic and perhaps even _shy_ \- not that he’d ever admit it - Burnie was outgoing and charming and his laugh could probably cure illnesses or some shit. It was impossible to miss that booming roar from anywhere in the school and yeah, maybe it made Geoff smile a bit every time he heard it. Maybe he’d even noticed how handsome Burnie was too because _come on_ , friendly and attractive jock? Pretty much everyone had a bit of a weakness for that.

Back in their sophomore year Geoff had even ended up working on a science project with Burnie and he could still remember how miserable he’d felt upon being given the assignment and his partner. Nobody really knew Burnie back then, he was just another nameless face on the football team and anybody could forgive Geoff for thinking he was nothing more than a brainless beauty. He’d expected all of the work to get lumped onto him while his partner fussed about protein shakes or whatever the hell the sports kids actually gave a crap about. He wasn’t even going to begin trying to get into their heads because that was a deep dark rabbit hole full of inflated masculinity and repressed homosexuality. Science of the mind and all that crap.

Much to his surprise though, Burnie actually seemed to give a crap about the work. Hell, he gave more of a crap than Geoff did but that wasn’t really much of a surprise considering by that point he’d already embraced the fact that he was likely to flunk science and there was no point in stressing about it anymore. The experience had probably been the highlight of his science class throughout school, if only because Burnie did the lion’s share of the work and he only had to pretend to know what the hell he was saying in their presentations. They didn’t go back to being strangers after that either, Burnie would always nod his head in recognition if they passed in the halls and even stopped to talk every now and then. Geoff knew that some of Burnie’s friends were judging him for it but he felt touched that it didn’t seem to matter to him at all. One of the school’s beloved princes didn’t mind being caught talking to the human dumpster. What a saint he was!

The haziness of Geoff’s dream brought him back to that familiar boy’s bathroom just down the hall from the cafeteria which had become an all too regular haunt for him in recent days. He found himself walking instinctively towards the stall where his note was located, only this time it was already occupied despite the door being open. Thankfully the person wasn’t flashing their family heirlooms for the world to see, their pants remained up and they were too busy writing something on the wall to notice him. That person was, of course, Burnie.

“Well this is just fucking bizarre,” Geoff gasped, attracting the jock’s attention. Burnie smiled sheepishly at him, a faint pink beginning to colour his cheeks and making him look… well, adorable. It wasn’t exactly the first word that came to mind when Geoff thought about the rugged, stubble-growing football player but he couldn’t help it, Burnie really was adorable.

Adorable _and_ bare-chested. How was that not the first thing Geoff had noticed? Had he been shirtless this whole time because _wow_ that was a considerable amount of chest hair covering those firm pecs and abdominal muscles and _oh god I’m super gay for a football player_. He’d never really put much thought into his sexuality before because he really didn’t see the point but when there was a guy in front of him that looked like Burnie he wasn’t sure he could be blamed for having a very positive reaction. It was shallow, yeah, but everybody was allowed to enjoy a bit of eye candy every now and then, right? Burnie definitely qualified for eye candy status, that was for sure.

Before he even knew it, Burnie was standing right in front of him, a shy smile lighting up his face. How had he gotten that close without him even noticing? Geoff could feel the other boy’s breath against his cheek and he couldn’t help but inch closer, his eyes darting down to Burnie’s lips--

The dream was ripped away as Geoff shot upright in bed, feeling far too constricted by the sheets surrounding him. “What the hell was _that?_ ” he gasped, collapsing back into a puddle of never-ending confusion. It was going to take him a long time to forget that dream, that was for sure. He probably wouldn’t be able to look Burnie in the eye again for weeks.

“There’s something super weird about you,” Ryan declared the next morning, arriving at school looking as energetic as ever despite having submit his body to the horrible torture of exercise. “Weirder than usual, I mean.” Geoff rolled his eyes and offered little else as a response while they walked. Apparently that just wasn’t satisfactory for Ryan. “Is this about the note in the bathroom?” he asked suddenly, stopping Geoff in his tracks.

“Wait, you know about that? Was it _you?_ ” he barked, eyes narrowing in accusation as he rounded on his friend. He knew that he’d already cross-referenced his handwriting but Ryan was intelligent, he’d probably think enough to change it around so he didn’t get caught out. Nobody else was crazy prepared like that, at least not to the extreme heights of Ryan. There was a reason he was Geoff’s immediate zombie apocalypse plan, after all. Dude probably had a bunker in his back yard loaded with shotguns or something, just in case.

Ryan snorted in bemusement before shaking his head. “Please, you’re really not my type,” he scoffed, wounding Geoff in the process. What was wrong with him? He could totally be anybody’s type! “Besides, I’m pretty sure it was Gavin Free.”

“Gavin?” Geoff repeated, his jaw hanging loose for a second. That _would_ make a surprising amount of sense actually. Damn it, why did Ryan always have the answers?

Gavin Free had transferred to their shitty little school in their shitty little town at the start of the school year and Geoff had been assigned to show him around, not because he was a model student or anything but because he’d been caught truanting and it was help the new kid or get yet another detention. Personally Geoff had found Gavin and his dumb British squawk to be rather annoying but he sure had seemed thankful for the help, half-assed as it was. Every time they passed in the hallway he was met by a loud “Hello Geoffrey!” followed by the loud giggling of the students who hadn’t hesitated to tease Gavin for his accent. Maybe Geoff thought Gavin sounded like an idiot and yeah, he was a self-confessed asshole, but he wasn’t about to stoop so low to give him shit for something like that. He was an asshole with _morals_.

“Nah, it’s not Gavin,” Geoff replied dismissively. This time he was actively hoping it was the truth. Could he see himself in a relationship with the British kid? Perhaps, but they’d probably end up straight at the ‘bickering like an old married couple’ without any of the fun in the middle. That wasn’t really what Geoff wanted for a relationship, even if he was touched that Gavin found him cute - which wasn’t yet proven, Ryan’s talented observation aside.

“If you say so,” Ryan said with a shrug, not even bothering to hide the smug smile on his face. God, sometimes Geoff really wanted to punch him only it was more likely that he’d break his own wrist rather than do any real damage to Ryan.

Finding an excuse to check Gavin’s handwriting was much easier said than done. Every time he saw the younger boy Geoff froze, mouth opening like he was about to say something before he chickened out and ran for the hills, Ryan laughing like a maniac beside him. Gavin seemed to have noticed too, judging by the strange looks he’d give Geoff every time their eyes connected across the hallway.

Considering how much of an awkward mess he’d been all day, Geoff was more than a little surprised when Gavin sat down at the lunch table with him and Ryan and all but slammed down a piece of paper that read in a disastrous scribble “Geoff Ramsey is cute”. Geoff stared at it for a few long seconds, his eyebrows raising. “You think I’m cute, huh?” he asked, a playful smirk crossing his lips. He couldn’t help himself.

“What? No!” Gavin screeched, shaking his head sharply, “I’m just proving that I didn’t write your damn love note!” To prove it further, he pulled out a pencil and wrote the message again in the same illegible scrawl. His eyes darted across to Ryan as if looking for approval but he only frowned, apparently lost in thought for a few seconds. Either that or his processor wasn't working correctly because Geoff was pretty damn sure that his friend was actually a cyborg. Seriously, it would explain so much.

“So the plot thickens,” he declared in a deep, over-dramatic voice. Geoff delivered a swift elbow to Ryan’s ribs in return. It was only at the end of the lunch break that he realized Gavin hadn’t looked back in his direction once. He’d been staring at Ryan the whole goddamn time. _Holy shit_. Had Ryan even noticed that this kid clearly had a giant British - okay, a tiny British - boner for him?

With Gavin out of the question and Ryan confirmed innocent again, Geoff was beginning to feel a little hopeless. Was he ever actually going to find the culprit or was this going to eat up his last few months of high school only to be for absolutely nothing? Considering Geoff’s life so far up to this point, he was pretty much convinced it would be the latter. Or _maybe_ life would be even crueller than usual and his secret admirer would be somebody he positively couldn’t stand like that floppy-haired Risinger kid or annoying-childhood-friend-turned-worst-enemy Gus. God, it would probably be the third option after all, wouldn’t it? Life hadn’t kicked him in the balls quite enough this year.

He had all but given up on ever solving the mystery when he encountered the familiar handwriting again, only in a much more unexpected place: the school noticeboard covered in thousands of flyers. Hidden amongst the reminders for the next championship game and the ever oppressive dress code was a small leaflet advertising something known as a ‘modern literature club’. _Sounds terrifying if you ask me_. Why would anybody choose to sign up for a club that involved actual learning? Didn’t they do enough of that in their classes? Geoff wouldn’t have even have paid it any attention if it wasn’t handwritten in a very familiar penmanship, one that he immediately recognized from the bathroom stall. He wondered exactly what memorizing that note said about him having an obsessive streak but then again maybe it was best not to dwell on it for too long.

Holding up his cell phone to compare the letters on the flyer to the note in the stall, Geoff’s heart began to race as he compared the casual flick at the bottom of each letter T and the unusual squiggle that looked more like a 5 than an S. It was definitely the same person. His secret admirer ran a goddamn _modern literature club_. Needless to say, Geoff was a cauldron of confusing emotions bubbling away all at once: excitement that another clue had all but fallen into his lap as well as bemusement at the realization that his admirer was definitely a massive nerd.

No more than two hours later, he caught sight of somebody pinning another flyer for the damn geography club on a noticeboard the other side of the school. Geoff didn’t recognize him at first: tall and wiry and yeah, kinda cute, but still totally unknown. The younger boy glanced up as if he could sense that he was being watched and flashed Geoff a sheepish smile which caused him to spring into action.

“Do you run the Modern Literature Club?” he all but demanded, his voice sounding perhaps a little too gruff to be making any friends. The boy seemed to pale within an instant before rapidly shaking his head.

“No, I just pin this stuff up. Any club, any notice… I pin. It’s my job,” he stammered, a whimpering ball of nerves. Geoff suddenly felt incredibly guilty for setting him on edge. He wasn’t sure he could really intimidate anybody with his frame because Geoff would probably lose a fight against a broken twig but he knew he had a pretty solid death glare down and his voice was gritty from years of smoking and shrieking like a baby whenever Ryan lured him into watching a horror movie with him. He didn’t even know the poor kid’s name and now he’d probably frightened him off seniors for good.

Relaxing his tense shoulders, Geoff forced a smile onto his face. “Well… great job, pinning… you,” he congratulated, an uncomfortable smile flashing across his face.

“Caleb,” the kid offered as his name while a faint pink blush danced across his cheeks and his eyes darted to the ground. Ever since discovering the note Geoff had somehow managed to become hyper-aware of every little detail so Caleb’s reaction didn’t go unnoticed. _Fuck, he really is cute_. Okay, so their school happened to have a lot of cute boys, what of it? Geoff didn’t exactly have to throw himself at any of them… even if he kind of wanted to.

“You wouldn’t happen to know who runs the Modern Literature Club, would you, Caleb?” he asked carefully onto to receive a small shrug in return. Ugh, there went that avenue of investigation. Now he’d have to actually go to the damn thing and it was on Friday, _three whole days_ away. He wasn’t sure he could even wait that long! “Well you’ve been a great help,” Geoff lied, slapping the other on the back, “Cheers, buddy.”

Geoff wasn’t an idiot, he knew that Caleb kept watching him until he’d turned the corner of the hallway but hey, it felt pretty good. Most people looked at him like he was a knocked-over trashcan so yeah, maybe he enjoyed being viewed as a badass older stud every now and then. _Stud may be taking it a bit far_ , he reminded himself. He was no Burnie Burns, that was for sure.

The wait until the end of the week was practically torturous. He’d even asked Ryan and Michael if they knew the Modern Literature Club because it seemed like the nerdy shit they’d be into but to no avail. Michael at least seemed willing to attend the meeting on Friday so he wouldn’t have to turn up on his own like a fucking loser with no real interest in literature at all.

“Are you really going to fuss about this all week?” Ryan sighed during Wednesday’s lunch break. It wasn’t like Geoff actively brought it up on the regular, he just didn’t seem interested in any conversation that wasn’t about his mystery suitor. Then again Ryan did tend to talk about a lot of weird crap and over the years Geoff had gotten pretty damn good at blocking it all out. Instead of answering vocally he shot his friend with a withering glare that ended the conversation altogether.

Okay, maybe Ryan was right. Maybe he was letting this consume him a bit much but could anybody really blame him? Aside from the Griffon case he’d been perpetually single for his whole damn life and if there was a cute guy out there that thought _he_ was cute then yeah, of course he wanted to go for it. Midterms and homework really didn’t seem important enough to cast a shadow over that and could anybody really blame him? It wasn’t like Ryan was desperate for attention, he had his own small band of admirers, and he was just too blind to notice them. Either that or he was just an asshole who had noticed and simply didn’t care. Considering the company Ryan kept on the regular, he was probably just an asshole too.

In the end, Geoff didn’t even have to go to the stupid Modern Literature Club to find his Romeo. Well he had to go to the _library_ which was pretty much just as bad but he got his answers sooner rather than later and being the impatient fuck that he was, he definitely approved.

He had all but thrown himself down at a table which was only occupied by one other student, a beefy hockey jock. Geoff was pretty sure his name was Adam or something but he’d never taken any real notice because they weren’t anywhere near each other’s social orbits. The guy had glanced up at the disturbance, a dark look in his eyes that Geoff was about to make a sarcastic comment about before he saw what the boy was holding in his hands: a literature essay written in the familiar neat cursive he’d been hunting down for weeks now, flicked T’s and numerical S’s and all.

“ _You_ ,” he gasped, biting back the remark he’d been planning to make upon his frosty reception at the terrible. To his credit, Adam didn’t immediately look like a deer trapped in the headlights. _Must be a good actor_ , Geoff summarized. His heart was racing at a thousand miles an hour because holy crap, his secret admirer was practically twice the size of him and those arms and honestly, was this real life?

“Me?” Adam replied after a moment, the confusion from his gravelly voice etched into his expression as well. Okay, he was a _really_ good actor. “What do you want, Ramsey?”

All thing’s considered, this really wasn’t how Geoff had expected to meet his possible future boyfriend. The other boy seemed almost hostile and that really wasn’t doing much in the way of helping Geoff’s nerves because this was a big deal and he had no idea how to get his words out without sounding like the world’s biggest idiot. Sure, he totally filled that position already but he didn’t want everybody to know it! “You… wrote the note. In the bathroom, right?”

Again, all that met his question was a blank stare. “What note in what bathroom?” Adam huffed finally, folding his ridiculously large arms as he dropped his essay onto the table. Geoff’s eyes instinctively followed it, which was when he noticed the name on the top of it did not read Adam Kovic as he’d expected.

It read _Burnie Burns_.

“That isn’t your essay?” Geoff asked, voice shaking in disbelief. He was pretty sure his brain was going to explode any minute because _Burnie_. Seriously, what the hell?

“I was just taking notes,” Adam countered defensively, his eyes narrowing into a glare. It made sense. Geoff didn’t go out of his way to know everything about the jocks and their social hierarchy but he’d seen Burnie and Adam hanging out together before and Burnie was definitely the kind of guy to lend his notes to somebody who was struggling in class. “Why, you planning to rat me out?”

Geoff shot up from his seat, all pretence of doing his own work totally forgotten. Math homework could wait forever as far as he was concerned. “No no no, I’m just… I gotta go. Good luck with everything, you know?” he stammered, all but tripping over his own feet as he scrambled away.

Despite his best efforts and even bullying both Ryan and Michael to help him, Geoff couldn’t find Burnie all lunch break. In fact, he didn’t get to see the other boy at all until the final lesson of the day. They were still in the same science class even though Geoff was miles behind everybody else in his education, simply because he didn’t give a damn.

Throwing himself down into the seat on Burnie’s right, Geoff was well aware of the strange looks he was getting from his classmates but he didn’t really give a damn because he couldn’t take his eyes off the boy next to him. Burnie was certainly aware of his staring too as a bemused smile spread across his lips. “Do I have something on my face?” he asked in a puzzled tone. “Something you were _really_ eager to warn me about? Tell me it’s not a booger.”

Now that he had barged headfirst into this scenario, Geoff was suddenly aware of just how unprepared he was. What the hell was he supposed to say? He had absolutely no idea what he was doing and he was pretty sure it was obvious when instead of replying he just stared down at his desk and made a few ineligible squawks. Somewhere Gavin Free was probably feeling very proud without knowing why at all.

Class started before Geoff could sum up the courage to say anything at all. Burnie had continued to glance curiously in his direction from time to time but he didn’t say anything further. They sat in uncomfortable silence as the teacher waffled about some experiment they were supposedly doing later on in the class. The words went in one ear and out the other as far as Geoff was concerned because he had much more pressing issues at hand that were occupying his brain.

After what felt like a lifetime, Geoff ripped a piece of paper out of his book and scribbled a small note. _You run a modern literature club?_ He quickly reached out and dropped it on Burnie’s table while the teacher’s back was to them, earning yet another quizzical glance from the other boy. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting to come of it but his heart started to beat double time when Burnie turned the paper over and carefully penned his own note.

“ _You thinking of joining?_ ” it read. Geoff had to struggle to hold his laugh in because holy shit no. He glanced up to find Burnie watching him intently, his lips curled into the slightest frown. Geoff found himself temporarily distracted by the sight, noticing just how kissable those lips looked before he remembered what he was supposed to be doing.

 _No, just didn’t realize you were such a nerd._ Burnie’s eyebrows rose as he read the new note and for a moment Geoff worried his teasing came across too mean on paper. After all these years Burnie had to know he was a jackass but it wasn’t as if he’d ever have to stones to actually treat the jock in the shitty way he did with Ryan.

 _“Hey, nerd and proud. You should come, it really is fun.”_ Geoff read the note over and over, his brain struggling to process what it had been told. Did Burnie genuinely want him to go to his stupid club and if so, why? Was it just a friendly invitation or - more promisingly - was he using it as an excuse to see Geoff more? Maybe that was just his brain being hopeful but his heart wouldn’t let him think about anything else, not right now when he felt like he was on the brink of a breakthrough.

 _I’d rather watch one of your dumb football games_.

“ _I’ll reserve you seats._ ” Okay there was no way this was just Burnie being friendly or trying to save his boring club from destruction at the lack of activity. (Geoff couldn’t help but wonder exactly who in their school was lame enough to be excited by the thought of a Modern Literature Club, Burnie aside.) Football games were a big deal - or at least that was what he was told. He’d never actually attended one of them himself because come on, did he really look like the kind of guy who’d enjoy a bunch of sweaty muscular men ramming into each other?

On second thought, maybe he’d been wrong about football all along.

As the time came for Geoff to write his next note, he froze up. What the hell did he say from here? How on earth was he supposed to confront Burnie about the message in the bathroom stall because what if he utterly humiliated himself and it turned out that Burnie hadn’t written it at all. He felt pretty sure that he’d found the culprit but it had been such a journey getting there that he half expected whatever higher power there was to throw another plot twist in, just to fuck him over. Life had never exactly given Geoff gifts without loading it with some sort of embarrassment or pain. Not that he didn't deserve it every now and then.

“You saw the note, huh?” a deep voice whispered from beside him, snapping Geoff out of his increasingly-panicked thoughts. He glanced to find Burnie looking at him intently, his expression unreadable and almost intimidating. Geoff opened his mouth to respond but found himself feeling numb with shock that the other had so willingly addressed it and settled for simply nodding instead. “How’d you know it was me?”

“I, uh… recognized the handwriting on your essay,” he confessed after a moment. God, that was embarrassing, wasn’t it? Now he probably looked like a creepy stalker.

“My-- wait, my literature essay? You’ve seen it?” Burnie gasped, eyes lighting up in surprise. Now it was Geoff’s time to frown.

“Yeah, that Kovic dude had it. Said you gave it to him for notes.”

Burnie’s shoulders slumped and he rolled his eyes in the most spectacular fashion Geoff had ever witnessed. “That asshole. Goddamn, I’m gonna kick his ass.” And people called _him_ overdramatic. Unsure of what to say, he just shrugged his shoulders and smiled weakly. Thankfully Burnie’s expression softened quickly into the same charming smile he wore so often whenever they passed in the corridors. “You are, by the way.”

“Are what?” Geoff murmured in response, brow furrowed and leaning in closer without even noticing it. There were definitely classmates snooping in on their conversation no matter how quiet they were trying to be and he wanted to reduce that to a minimum. This moment was for him and Burnie only.

“Cute.” It was said so honestly and Burnie’s expression was so earnest that Geoff was pretty sure his heart skipped several beats. _Holy shit, this has to be a dream. He actually thinks I’m cute._ Unable to hold himself back any longer, Geoff broke into loud giggles which immediately caught the attention of their eternally miserable teacher. He earned a detention for the slip-up but all things considered it felt totally worth it.

They didn’t get another chance to talk until the end of the lesson when they were all instructed to pick a partner for their next experiment. For the first time since his sophomore year, Geoff didn’t have to wait until last to be picked. Burnie turned to him immediately, eyes lighting up with something Geoff guessed was hope. “Partner up?” What a strange concept, to think Burnie wanted to be his partner when they both knew anybody in their class would immediately abandon their friends in order to get a chance to hang out with Burnie.

“Only if you take me out on a date tomorrow night,” Geoff blurted out, finally finding the courage that had avoided him for so goddamn long. For a single moment he feared he’d overstepped his boundaries before Burnie’s face spread into a brilliant smile that warmed his overworking heart in an instant. How was this guy single? He was unfairly athletic, ridiculously intelligent and totally adorable. Screw being single, how was he even _real_? This was too good to be true, he simply couldn’t accept it. There was no way a Prom King in the making like Burnie would ever be interested and him and yet -

“Geoff Ramsey, it would be my absolute _pleasure_ to take you on a date tomorrow night.”

**Author's Note:**

> So fun fact, this was originally going to end up with Geoff/Caleb but then I decided to give a different pairing a go as I've written a lot of Ramcour so Geoff/Adam was chosen instead. _Then_ I had so much fun writing that little Geoff/Burnie dream that it got changed back to him. 
> 
> Don't be surprised if you see a follow up to this with more Burnsey and Freewood because I'm enjoying this pairing and universe a hell of a lot. Jock!Burnie is something I feel surprisingly passionate about.


End file.
